leave your electronics behind

Cerve : "What did James want to talk about?"

Alex : "Were you actually not listening in or are you just being polite?"

Cerve : "The call was of course picked up by the sensors in the house and I can review those files if need be but I haven't to respect James's request for privacy."

You aren't really sure how much you believe her. It's probably just James's paranoia rubbing off on you, Cerve seems to have your best interests at heart - well, whatever the silicon equivalent of her heart is.

Alex : "He just wants to hang out in the park a bit, disconnected..."

You unclasp the smart watch from your wrist, revealing a patch of skin somehow even paler than the rest of your sun deprived body. You leave the watch and you phone on the table and walk out into the crisp evening air.

You were a dozen steps away from the front door when you feel the dopamine driven impulse to check your phone and it occurs to you that this might be the first time you've left the house without a cell phone in years, as far back as you can remember. It feels almost like you left a limb behind. Even before Cerve you were constantly connected to the internet, the loss of connection added a dimension of anonymity to the night, you felt more in the moment.

The park wasn't far from your house, just past the gym and a cluster of shops. There are a few scattered groups of people walking around.